[Lexicog] Is it 'dwarfs' or 'dwarves'?

[Paviour-Smith, Martin]

Below is part of the OED citation. So the 'wrong' spelling predates
Tolkien.


  b. One of a supposed race of diminutive beings, who figure in Teutonic
and esp. Scandinavian mythology and folk-lore; often identified with the
elves, and supposed to be endowed with special skill in working metals,
etc. 
 
  1770 BP. PERCY tr. Mallet's North. Antiq. v. (1847) 98 They made of
his skull the vault of heaven, which is supported by four dwarfs, named
North, South, East, and West. 1818 W. TAYLOR in Monthly Mag. XLVI. 26
The history of Laurin, king of the dwarves. 1834 LYTTON Pilgrims of
Rhine xxvi, The aged King of the Dwarfs that preside over the dull
realms of lead. 1846 J. E. TAYLOR Fairy Ring Notes 363 The notion that
the wicked elves or dwarfs had the power to steal children before their
baptism is found also..in Iceland.


Dr Martin Paviour-Smith
Lecturer
Linguistics and Second Language Teaching
School of Language Studies
Massey University
Private Bag 11 222
Palmerston North
New Zealand
m.paviour-smith at massey.ac.nz
Tel (06) 356 9099 ext 2195

-----Original Message-----
From: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
[mailto:lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Mike Sangrey
Sent: Tuesday, 26 July 2005 5:05 a.m.
To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Lexicog] Is it 'dwarfs' or 'dwarves'?


I have a somewhat off-topic question.

My wife is doing some study of Tolkien and discovered he spelled
'dwarfs' wrong consistently throughout his writings.  When she told me
that I immediately questioned it, thinking that some critic was being
overly critical.  Well, it turns out that Tolkien admitted "the colossal
error' in one of his letters (always go back to the sources <smile>).

Well, we looked up 'dwarf' in our dictionary and discovered that it
pluralizes 'dwarf' as 'dwarfs' and 'dwarves'.  So, we wondered, has
Tolkien single-handedly introduced the new spelling?

Would someone lookup 'dwarf' in the OED and tell me what their entry
says regarding the origin of the plural 'dwarves'?

Thanks!

-- 
Mike Sangrey
msangrey AT BlueFeltHat.org
Landisburg, Pa.
                        "The first one last wins."
            "A net of highly cohesive details reveals the truth."



 
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